Fellaini: Deeper or behind the striker?

tim cahill · June 18, 2013

Looks like we're all in agreement on this then :blink:

May as well just close the thread.

billycopper · June 18, 2013

I think it depends. Early in the season we were leaking stupid goals and he could have helped us to tighten things up. And then, since Christmas, he hasn't been much of a goal threat, so he's occupied a position where Mirallas, Naismith or Jelavic might have been more successful.

I'd mix it up. Teams might set up to try and stop Fellaini, so finding Osman in the hole instead could throw their game plan off. We should have changed it round during the game too. If we'd started with Felli deeper and were chasing the game, we could have thrown him further forward later on when they wouldn't have a designated marker for him. And if we were trying to hold on to a lead we could have dropped him back to help us out defensively.

His goals are important to us, so we do need to get him into more advanced areas but I think we need to find ways of doing it that are harder for the opposition to defend against. Having him stood up top all game is too predictable.

I think his natural position is deeper and it's a bonus that he's capable of scoring goals. We've cracked it if we can get him to do both. I don't think we can afford to have a £24m holding midfielder though. That could buy us a couple of fowards in the bracket of Negredo.

swisso · June 18, 2013

MoutsGoat said:
LOL

Ah, the old Fellaini ruined Jela arguement, which kinda fell apart for the games Fellaini missed and Jela was still god damn awful.

What argument is that? Certaintly not one that I'm pushing fella

Playing with Fellaini up top has led to a style of play, which I'm sure you've seen, can take others out of the game. Long balls to Fellaini, knock downs to Pienaar who lays it off to Baines who crosses or drives inside. We saw that particular move a lot and it's been discussed and analysed many times in various discussions.

Jelavic had a bad season, lack of composure when presented with relatively straight forward chances and confidence near non-existent. There's no single reason for his dismal failure last season, but there are contributory factors.

njligernj · June 18, 2013

I used to say up front (because he WAS better there then) but now I say deep because he IS better there now (plus we have Mirallas to play in the hole).

Saint Domingo · June 18, 2013

Royal Blue Jersey said:
Fails to convince me as a #10 or a Carsley-type defensive mid. I don't think he has the passing ability for an Alonso/Arteta (either long/short) type holding/central midfielder either. He does score goals and he can knock people off the ball, hence his use as last season's battering ram. I would personally prefer him deeper than last season but not deep enough to shoulder any defensive responsibility - in short, out the team.

Exactly right. Ahead of Gibson as some sort of rushing pressing midfielder is the only position that Fellaini can play well. When up front he slows the play down to bring others in but it means our transition from back to front is so slow and any chance usually has to come from a Baines cross to Fellaini's head. Jelavic may as well not be playing in this system. When Fellaini plays holding mid Leeds in the cup happens.

Fellaini ahead of Gibson works if the forward players outwide and ahead of him are quick and skilful. If it's Pienaar and Mirallas wide then there's no problem. Fellaini wins it back and gives it to them and they work their magic. If (like in the Semi against the RS) the wide players are slow like Gueye and OSman (cruelly out of position) then Fellaini's lack of creativity is exposed as the entire onus of the midfield falls on Gibson's passing range. The result was that they just got ran over by Lucas and Gerrard.

If you want to see good football then Osman is by far a better technical operator on the ball than Fellaini but will sometimes get ran through if left isolated. If you want a lack of creativity in central mid but the ability to compete physically then Fellaini is your man. That's why Arteta was so good, he had everything, even in his limited state now he still contorls Arsenal's midfield and he's not even half as good as he was for us pre-injury.

Huyton Layne · June 18, 2013

quasi modo said:
Deeper for me. I think it was the West Ham game at home, I know it was poor opposition, but he totally dominated the midfield.

When he is up top, it just encouraged our back line to try and hit him at the earliest opportunity.

We need someone to dominate those type of games though tbh. I'm always more worried about losing/drawing when we play average teams over good ones, see WBA.

Essex Blue · June 18, 2013

Behind the striker. Can't be arsed having a 15 hour argument on it, so I'll say my reasons and leave it at that.

I don't rate him all that much in CM, and certainly not in DCM. Arteta, Carsley and loads of other players from other teams are/were far better than him. He is a good tackler, but he has very little creativity and his positioning, marking and tracking of runners is poor, as is his defending of corners.

He is a handful upfront, can hold the ball up and bring others into play, is good at heading and is capable of putting the ball in the back of the net.

Walken · June 19, 2013

Essex Blue said:
Behind the striker. Can't be arsed having a 15 hour argument on it, so I'll say my reasons and leave it at that.

I don't rate him all that much in CM, and certainly not in DCM. Arteta, Carsley and loads of other players from other teams are/were far better than him. He is a good tackler, but he has very little creativity and his positioning, marking and tracking of runners is poor, as is his defending of corners.

He is a handful upfront, can hold the ball up and bring others into play, is good at heading and is capable of putting the ball in the back of the net.

Carsley was a decent player, but hes not fit to lace fellainis boots, anyone who thinks carsley is in anyway better is mental

billy · June 19, 2013

I would play him as the middle cb in a 3-4-3

Chuff84 · June 19, 2013

Was going to go for the cheese option, but would take the poor man far too long to pick it all out of his fro... so deeper it is.

Julian Carax · June 19, 2013

Him and Jelavic upfront on form would be boss.

caught · June 19, 2013

As someone said, as soon as teams figured out to put a Shawcross-like bear hugger on him all game, Fellaini became much less effective as a forward. The admixture of physical and technical gifts he has make him, on his day, a weird and brilliant centre mid. Stationing him in front of the back four would be a waste, though, as he's a box-to-box midfielder in the same way Yaya Toure is.

So, deeper, but not so deep that he brings a tear to my eye.

nsno-chris · June 19, 2013

Or....you set your team up to identify the weakness of your opponents. One week he could be further up the field to take advantage of a small, physically weak defense and the next he plays deeper to combat a passing team with runners from midfield.